اللبن اللي في التلاجة بارد، بس الشاي سخن.

In Egyptian Arabic, as in Arabic generally, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense.

So:

• اللبن ... بارد = the milk ... is cold
• الشاي سخن = the tea is hot

You only need an actual verb for was / will be / has become / is being, etc. But for simple present descriptions, Arabic normally just puts the subject and then the description.

اللي means that / which / who. It introduces a relative clause.

So:

• اللبن اللي في التلاجة = the milk that is in the fridge

A very important point for learners: in Egyptian Arabic, اللي is the usual relative word for almost everything. It does not change for gender or number the way English sometimes does.

Because it is describing اللبن.

Arabic keeps a relative clause directly after the noun it modifies:

• اللبن اللي في التلاجة = the milk that is in the fridge

You cannot move that part away from اللبن without changing or confusing the meaning. The whole phrase اللبن اللي في التلاجة acts as one unit, and then بارد tells you something about that whole unit.

Because they are predicate adjectives, not adjectives directly attached to the noun inside the noun phrase.

Compare:

• اللبن البارد = the cold milk
  Here البارد is directly describing the noun, so it takes الـ because اللبن is definite.

• اللبن بارد = the milk is cold
  Here بارد is the predicate, so it usually does not take الـ.

In your sentence, both بارد and سخن are predicates:

• اللبن ... بارد
• الشاي سخن

Because اللبن and الشاي are grammatically masculine.

So the adjective appears in the masculine singular:

• بارد = cold, masculine
• سخن = hot, masculine

If the noun were feminine, you would usually use:

• باردة
• سخنة

For example:

• القهوة سخنة = the coffee is hot

Here بس means but.

So the sentence is contrasting two things:

• The milk in the fridge is cold, but the tea is hot.

A useful note: بس can also mean only / just / enough, depending on context. But in this sentence, it clearly means but.

A natural Egyptian-style pronunciation would be something like:

il-laban illi fi t-talāga bāred, bass ish-shāy sokhn.

You may also hear slightly different vowels depending on the speaker, such as el-laban or et-talāga.

A rough breakdown:

• اللبن → il-laban
• اللي → illi
• في → fi
• التلاجة → it-talāga / et-talāga
• بارد → bāred
• بس → bass
• الشاي → ish-shāy
• سخن → sokhn

Because of sun-letter assimilation.

The written form stays الـ, but in pronunciation the l sound merges into the first consonant of certain letters. In this sentence:

• اللبن is pronounced il-laban
• التلاجة is pronounced it-talāga
• الشاي is pronounced ish-shāy

So the l of الـ is not clearly pronounced before these letters.

This is very common and important for sounding natural.

In Egyptian Arabic, اللبن commonly means milk, so that is the natural meaning here.

However, learners should know that in other Arabic-speaking regions, laban can refer to things like yogurt, buttermilk, or a yogurt drink. So the exact meaning can vary by dialect.

In an Egyptian context, this sentence is most naturally understood as the milk in the fridge.

In Egyptian Arabic, سخن is a very common word for something physically hot, especially food and drink.

So:

• الشاي سخن = the tea is hot

You may also meet حار, but سخن is extremely natural for tea, coffee, soup, food, water, and similar things in Egyptian speech.

Yes, some parts can be changed, but not all changes sound equally natural.

For example, you could say:

• الشاي سخن، بس اللبن اللي في التلاجة بارد.

That just changes what comes first.

But the phrase اللي في التلاجة should stay attached to اللبن, because it identifies which milk you mean. So:

• اللبن اللي في التلاجة = good
• separating اللي في التلاجة too far from اللبن = usually awkward or unclear

Those mean something slightly different structurally.

Your original sentence:

• اللبن اللي في التلاجة بارد
• The milk that is in the fridge is cold

Here, بارد is the main statement.

But:

• اللبن البارد = the cold milk
• اللبن البارد اللي في التلاجة = the cold milk that is in the fridge

That is a noun phrase, not a full statement by itself.

So the original sentence is not just naming the milk; it is telling you something about it. That is why بارد comes at the end as the predicate.